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==Notable faculty==
==Notable faculty==
===Current professors===
===Current professors===
* [[Christopher David Cameron]] ''(Authority in labor law, focusing on unions)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/184422/ Website]
* [[Christopher David Cameron]] ''(Authority in Labor Law with focus on Unions)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/184422/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Joerg Knipprath]] ''(Expert in constitutional law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/114010/ Website]
* [[Joerg Knipprath]] ''(Expert in Constitutional Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/114010/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Robert Lind]] ''(Expert in entertainment, media and intellectual property law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70087/ Website]
* [[Robert Lind]] ''(Expert in Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70087/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Professor Robert Lutz|Robert Lutz]] ''(Public and private international law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70088/ Website]
* [[Lionel S. Sobel]] ''(Expert in Entertainment Law, editor of the '' Entertainment Law Reporter ''<ref>http://entertainmentlawreporter.blogspot.com/</ref>)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/315537 Faculty Profile]
* [[Professor Jonathan Miller|Jonathan Miller]] ''(Specialist in Latin American legal institutions)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/183695/ Website]
* [[Michael D. Scott]] ''(Expert on Computer and Technology Law, Blogger <ref>http://www.singularitylaw.com/ Blog</ref>)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/304271/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Robert Pugsley]] ''(Frequent TV and Radio commentator on criminal law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70106/ Website]
* [[Professor Robert Lutz|Robert Lutz]] ''(Public and Private International Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70088/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Myrna Raeder]] ''(Specialist in evidence and procedure)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70107/ Website]
* [[Professor Jonathan Miller|Jonathan Miller]] ''(Specialist in Latin American Legal Institutions)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/183695/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Michael D. Scott]] ''(Expert on computer and technology law, blogger)'' <ref>http://www.singularitylaw.com/ Blog</ref> <ref>http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/304271/ Website</ref>
* [[Robert Pugsley]] ''(Frequent TV and Radio Commentator on Criminal Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70106/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Myrna Raeder]] ''(Specialist in Evidence and Procedure)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70107/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Professor Karen Smith|Karen Smith]] ''(Specialist in Criminal Procedure, Former Senior Deputy Federal Public Defender)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70119/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Warren S. Grimes]] ''(Expert in Antitrust Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/140902/ Faculty Profile]
* [[Max Goodman]] ''(Expert in Family Law)'' [http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/faculty_listing/facultybio/70060/ Faculty Profile]


===Former professors===
===Former professors===

Revision as of 08:30, 24 January 2008

Southwestern Law School (formerly known as Southwestern University School of Law) is a private ABA-accredited law school located in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,000 students on a campus that includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an admired art deco landmark. Founded on November 25, 1911 by John J. Schumacher, the school offers four J.D. programs of study as well as one LL.M. program. The school should not be confused with Southwestern University, a liberal arts institution in Georgetown, Texas.

File:Swlawbw.jpg
The Bullocks Wilshire Building on the campus of the Southwestern Law School

History

Moot court

Southwestern Law School was founded on November 25, 1911 as the Southwestern College of Law. John J. Schumacher, its founder, intended the nonprofit institution to be a law school that reached out to women and minorities. The school is one of the oldest law schools in the state of California and the second oldest law school in Los Angeles.

Southwestern received a university charter in 1915 after it expanded to include a number of other disciplines including a business school. Southwestern's first "home" was in the Union Oil Building in downtown Los Angeles, followed by a small campus on South Hill Street, where it existed for the ensuing decades.

The Great Depression and Second World War took a severe toll on the school's enrollment, and by the end of the 1930s the law school was the only school that remained. However, as veterans returned home the school experienced a surge of interest, and in 1974, the campus was moved to the school's current location on Westmoreland Avenue in the Wilshire Center area of Los Angeles. By that time, the school was ABA-accredited and interest was growing quickly.

In 1994, Southwestern acquired the adjacent Bullocks Wilshire building, an historic landmark which was subsequently renovated to house the school's law library, classrooms, and faculty offices.

Academic Programs

J.D. Full-time Day Program

Southwestern's full-time day program is a three year program that allows students pursue a traditional legal education with opportunities to focus on a particular area of law, such as entertainment, commercial, tax, international, criminal, among others.

J.D. Part-time Evening Program

Southwestern's traditional part-time evening program is a four year program designed for working professionals.

J.D. Part-time Day Program (also known as PLEAS)

Southwestern's part-time day program is a unique four year program designed for students with child-care responsibilities.

J.D. SCALE Program

Southwestern offers a unique twenty month accelerated J.D. program. SCALE's (Southwestern's Conceptual Approach to Legal Education) emphasis is on conceptual learning and simulation training.

LL.M.

In 2000, Southwestern launched the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute [1] which offers the nation’s first LL.M degree in entertainment and media law. The Institute also hosts conferences in the area of entertainment and media law, and provides opportunities for students to interact with professionals in these fields.

Advocacy Training

Southwestern has been awarded a federal grant to train Mexican lawyers and law faculty in advocacy skills as part of a USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) effort to assist Mexican legal reforms. [2]

Campus

File:Swlawcampus.jpg
The Promenade at the center of the Southwestern Law School campus

The campus is located in the Mid-Wilshire district Los Angeles, also known as Korea Town. Currently the campus contains two buildings, the Westmoreland Building and the Bullocks Wilshire Building. Both buildings house classrooms, administrative offices, and faculty offices; the Bullocks Wilshire Building also houses the Taylor Law Library (named for a former Dean of the law school), the Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center, a fitness center (featuring treadmills, exercise bikes, and StepMaster-style machines as well as nautilus and free weights, and a studio for aerobics and Yoga), a dining area, and a number of student lounges.

The Westmoreland Building is a building typical of college and university campuses, while the Bullocks Wilshire Building is a fully-restored art deco landmark that pays tribute to its history in many ways. Every level of the building is has been renovated (back to its original 1929 state) down to the smallest details such as the clocks on the walls and the "showcases" in the area now occupied by the library.

The school's location is near downtown Los Angeles. Southwestern Law School has no on-campus housing, so the student body is composed entirely of commuters. The current layout of the campus reflects this, with about one-third of the campus devoted to a dual-level parking facility.

The Metro Rapid 720 bus that runs along Wilshire Boulevard, stops within a few blocks of the law school, while standard metro bus lines 18 and 20 stop in front of the school.

Notable alumni

Southwestern alumni include public officials – from members of Congress to mayors, district attorneys, and over 200 judges – as well as founders of major law firms and general counsels of multinational corporations.

Politics & Government

Sports

Entertainment industry

Religion

Dean Bryant G. Garth

Southwestern's current dean is Bryant G. Garth. Prior to joining Southwestern, Dean Garth was the Director of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Dean Garth succeeds Dean Leigh H. Taylor.

Recent changes under Dean Garth include hiring additional staff, adding resources for counseling and readjusting the grading curve so that the average grade is now a B rather than a C+.

Along with Professor Catherine Carpenter's study on law school curricula for the American Bar Association, Dean Garth assisted in changing the first-year curriculum to better fit the needs of the students. The curriculum is now more focused on career development and lawyering skills, including interviewing, counseling, and negotiation. As part of the new program, the first week of school is dedicated completely to the new LAWS program (Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills).

Notable faculty

Current professors

Former professors

Academic reputation

  • Among Southwestern's honors groups is the Moot Court program, an active and award-winning group of students that represent the school at competitions across the country, including the National Telecommunications Competition and the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.
  • Southwestern also boasts a law review, the Southwestern University Law Review which publishes articles on a wide range of legal topis as well as hosting symposia on particular issues important to California and the legal field as a whole.
  • The Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas complements Southwestern's law review. The Journal focuses on issues of law and trade in North, Central and South America, exploring such areas as environmental law, international trade, human rights, and international crime. The U.S. Supreme Court cited the Journal in United States v. Balsys, 524 U.S. 666, 715 (1998).
  • The law school is working to establish itself in the field of entertainment and media law, is home to the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute, and was the first law school in the U.S. to offer an LL.M. in Entertainment and Media Law.
  • Southwestern has established an Immigration and Human Rights Clinic and a Children’s Rights Clinic.
  • Ranked in the third tier among the nation's law schools by the 2007 U.S. News and World Report[6]

Filming on the Southwestern campus

The Office of Administrative Services is responsible for all arrangements pertaining to commercial photography and filming on Southwestern's campus, and works with Unreel Locations[7] to coordinate the details.

  • A scene in The Aviator, a 2004 film starring Leonard DiCaprio, was filmed on campus near the entrance to the Bullocks Wilshire Building.
  • The final scene in the film Ghostbusters was filmed on top of the Bullocks Wilshire Building.
  • Featured setting in Topper, a 1937 film staring Cary Grant
  • Also featured in: "Dunston Checks In"; Aerosmith’s "Love in an Elevator"

References

  1. ^ http://www.swlaw.edu/academics/biederman
  2. ^ http://www.swlaw.edu/news/overview/newsr.7fZCLvR-Ue
  3. ^ http://entertainmentlawreporter.blogspot.com/
  4. ^ http://www.singularitylaw.com/ Blog
  5. ^ http://www.swlaw.edu/news/overview/newsr.7fYCzhdS8Y/ Website
  6. ^ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/lawindex_brief.php
  7. ^ http://www.unreellocations.com
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